Improvement in exhaust mechanisms for locomotives and other steam-engines



' H G ASHTON. ExhaustMechanism for Locomotives and other Steam Engines.

No. 862. Patnted April 2,1 78.

N- PEIERS, FHOTO LITHUGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D. C- it UNITED STATES PATENTOEEIcE.

HENRY G. ASHTON, OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO ASHTON VALVECOMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT lN EXHAUST MECHANISMS FOR LOCOMOTIVES ANDOTHER-STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 20] ,862, dated April2, 1878; application filed December 19, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY G. ASHTON, of Somerville, in the county ofMiddlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Locomotives and other Steam-Engines, which isfully described in the following specification, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, making a part hereof.

The object of my invention is to get rid of the objectionable noiseproduced by steam as it escapes from a safety-valve. and this object isaccomplished by conducting the steam which escapes from the safety-valveinto the smoke-box, from which it is discharged into the open airthrough the smoke-stack.

The apparatus used to accomplish this result is very simple, and isshown attached to a locomotive in the accompanying drawing, in wl1icl1-A represents a safety-valve, around which a closed chamber is formed toretain the escaped steam. B B is a pipe leading from this chamber intothe smoke-box C, where it is discharged. In practice it is found betterto have the end of the pipe B in the smokebox turned downward andperforated, as shown at I), Figure 2, and capped, so that the steam willnot be discharged in a single large jet into the smoke-box, but in aseries of small jets, escaping as a vapor fromthe smoke-stack withoutmaterially affecting the draft.

It will be seen that if a chamber were formed around an ordinarysafety-valve, and the steam should escape from the boiler into thischamber in such large quantities that the pipe could not properlydischarge it, a back pressure would be formed inthe chamber, which wouldtend to close the safety-valve without giving the boiler adequaterelief. To obviate this difficulty my invention should always be appliedto a valve which has its upper sur face protected from contact with thesteam, and the best valve known to me for that purpose is one a patentfor which an app1ica- O tion was filed in the United States PatentOffice by me December 4, 1877.

When it is preferred to use this invention in connection with myinvention for heating the feed-water in the tender by escape-steam, asdescribed in my Patents Nos. 186,783 and 194,073, the pipes areconnected, asshown in the drawing, D being the pipe which runs into thetender.

At E is a three-way cock, the best form of which for this purpose isshown in Fig. 3, in which E is the valve, which is controlled from thecab by means of the leverG and links F and F, g g being stops to preventtoo great motion being given to the valve. Fig. 3 shows the valve inposition to allow the steam to flow in the feed-water by the pipes B andD.

If the steam is to be prevented access to the feedwater for any reason,the handle G, and by it the valve E, is moved into the positionindicated by the dotted lines, thus allowing the steam a passage throughthe pipes B and B into the smoke-box. By this arrangement the steam,although at a high tension often one hundred and thirty pounds to thesquare inch where it escapes-is reduced to a low tension (about ten orfifteen pounds) when it enters the smoke-box.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination of the safety-valveA with the smoke-box C by means of the pipes B B, as and for thepurposes set forth.

2. The combination of the safety-valve A, pipe B, cock E, and pipes Band D, constructed and arranged as, shown, in order that theescape-steam from the safety-valve may be carried in either one of twodirections, as

set forth.

HENRY G. ASHTON. Witnesses:

J. E. MAYNADIER, GEORGE 0. G. GOALE.

